Arttective (Art+Detective, in case you didn't figure out) is a channel dedicated to sharing ideas about art via short video essays. This channel is dedicated to films, music, literature, video games, etc. and all the other forms that come under art. Welcome and I hope you'll enjoy your stay here!
It took people the entire decade they were around to figure that ABBA "could be dark musically" and even when they made it so blatant (a full album of it in '81) and 1982 should that ever be completed-which it technically is if you add the CHESS singles to it, plus all of the Gemini album in 1985 that is pretty much an ABBA album, people only reacted with askance at the best! Idiots. But there were dark songs before, even 'Dancing Queen' has a questionably dodgy underlying subtext, but no, they miss that of course because of the wonderful pop spirit of the song and the beautiful vocals, harmonies and catchy as hell music! D'oh!
For me, Newell's work was at least as disappointing as Yates's. He entirely misunderstood/disrespected the atmosphere and spirit of The Goblet of Fire, which Cuarón managed to pick up so brilliantly with Azkaban. Although the famous exaggerated Dumbledore scenes embodied this failure on their own, other characters - Brendan Gleeson's hurt me the most - were mismanaged the same cartoonish way in my opinion. I tried to rewatch it many times as I got older, but the way that movie communicates is simply annoying for me, though I loved the book.
Reducing the darkness to -100 doesn't quality as "dark" to be honest. Compared to Yates, you'd find CoS a lot more disturbing. The very sounds of the Basilisk while it goes around the school whispering "Kill! Kill!" is still enough to bring chills down my spine. Can you think of anything similar in Yates' films?
@@Arttective I think you and I just value different things in the movies, your example is good but It dosnt really resonate with my viewing of the film in a sense.
I would say that Yates best one was Order of the Phoneix, but after that he doubled down on his bland directing style I'm the next three films that don't do justice to the Half-blood Prince and Deathly Hollows books. And his work on the Fantastic Beasts movies turn out to be very disappointing.
Yes David Yates was not a good director but how on earth can you say that Goblet of Fire was GREAT? It is categorically the worst film in the ENTIRE series. From their appearances, to the script, to exclusion of important characters like Bertha Jorkins and Bagman and the AWFUL portrayal of Dumbledore. Yates was sooooo much better than Mike Newell who even confessed in an interview that he couldn't even manage to read the entire book. How is that director labelled as someone good???
I will never get over how well Columbus captured the innocence and whimsical aspects of their early years while Cuaron pushed the film towards the darker and more intense stages of the story. Both directors complement each other really well.
I honestly think David Yates directed some of the best of the Franchise. Granted, Half Blood Prince is a weaker installment, but it still has beautiful cinematography and excellent performances from the Cast, especially Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman. Deathly Hallows (both parts) are some of the best in the franchise for me anyway.
There was something about Yates and how he directed the films that made me prefer Newell's adaptation of Goblet of Fire over Yates. Not even a big Newell fan for butchering the adaptation and seeing the previous directors as competition, but he got it right when it came to Voldemort's arrival and Cedric's death. On the other hand, Yates's direction felt bland or lackluster than how I read the books. These teenagers are emotional and tend to be impulsive as hell. The thing I'll give him credit was Dumbledore's scene in the Cave in HBP and that's my least favorite one. I think Yates needed to focus on the action and emotions of the characters. That and he could've gone into detail on Voldy's past, and ffs- stop desaturating everything
I've been saying this for years, it is good to know that I'm not the only one who dislikes Yates for being the most lackluster director of these films.
I think what's so boring about Yates direction is that, coming from the previous 4 movies, the life is sucked out of the actors. And it settles into a more realisitic tone, both in cinematography and in color grading. Why, for a series that has been so colorful and imaginative and well-adapted on screen (mostly, I know there are caveats with the movies and their source material), is the direction to go REALISTIC? There's a difference between selling a beliveable world with magic in it, and presenting a world that's supposedly magical as so incredibly mundane. I don't particularly enjoy Goblet of Fire, as I find Nevill's direction to more on the overdramatic and standardized side. But anything is better than the mundane, and Yates is the *definition* of mundane.
Strangely The Half Blood Prince is my favorite. But Yates is very flawed in the last two. I think they should have changed directors each film and try to get better people. Imagine Nolan maybe doing a Potter film.
Fantastic commentary! Maybe a lot has been said about this film, but I for one would be so interested to hear more of your thoughts on it. Subscribing now!
